Lift Italia

A new tower crane manufacturer has been set up in Italy to take advantage of the burgeoning worldwide market. RD Lift was started in January by Enrico Natella, former general manager of SIME Group, which owns Italian tower crane manufacturer Raimondi. Natella has more than 20 years of experience in the industry and professes a “lifelong passion and feeling for cranes. ”He said the production capacity of many manufacturers could not keep up with demand, meaning there was room for new companies in the market.

RD Lift's new self erecting crane series starts with its smallest model, the 1860, and increases to the 4210. In top slewing cranes the GRD 35 is the smallest, rising to the GRD 66.

A luffing jib model, the LRD 20 10, is also on offer, along with its latest product, the VRD 35, a small hydraulic climbing crane for use in the confined surroundings of historic city centres. Its tower can be built up in short pieces and the jib can have sections added on the end.

The company aims to increase its range to a 12 tonne maximum capacity model, with a 70 m maximum jib.

The cranes were first shown at the Bauma exhibition in Germany in April. On display were a top slewing GRD 60 with 60 m maximum jib and eight tonne maximum load, and the HRD 22 60 self erector.

Manufacturing is done in Italy, with RD Lift carrying out most of the assembly, although some complete cranes are bought in. The range is sold through distributors and agents in Italy, with an overseas sales network under development. Cranes have been exported to Bulgaria, Croatia, Russia and Slovenia and the first was recently sold to France.

For more on this and other Italian news see the feature starting on page 28.